Dairy Trust Taranaki has 15 Trustees who make up our Board of Governance. This comprises of nine Trustees who have been appointed for a three year term through recommendation of a Nominations Committee and five Trustees who are appointed from our Appointing Entities. The Trust also currently has one co-opted Trustee
Our Governance
Jessie Waite
Chairperson
Jessie joined Dairy Trust Taranaki at the end of 2019, as the New Zealand Young Farmers representative.
Born and bred in Taranaki, Jessie has a real passion for the Primary Sector and its people.
Jessie is the Taranaki Regional Partner for OSPRI NZ and is a member of the New Zealand Young Farmers’ Board.
In 2018, Jessie won the New Zealand Young Farmers Excellence Award for her efforts in drought relief for Taranaki farmers, and also her involvement in the wider sector.
Paul Kuriger
Paul has been farming for more than 30 years in various positions around Taranaki. After meeting his wife Lynelle 22 years ago they expanded their business by going share milking in the central plateau. They currently own a dairy farm in Mahoe and one in Opunake.
Paul has been on the Stratford Demonstration Farm board for 22 years and is currently the Chairman. Before this he was in YFC and held all club, zone and regional chair positions. Paul and Lynelle enjoy musical theatre as well as tramping and camping at a hut on their farm with their three teenage children.
Sarah Avery
Sarah is our new Trustee from Taranaki Young Farmers. Sarah has a B. Ag Com from Massey university and is currently managing a farm near Inglewood. She is also the Chairperson of Taranaki Young Farmers.
Tiffany Radich
Tiffany joined Dairy Trust Taranaki in 2024, bringing experience from working in financial roles mainly in local government. She was raised in Taranaki, and is based in Kaponga on a dairy farm. She is a Chartered Accountant and member of the Institute of Directors, and holds a BCom in Accounting and BA in Maori Studies. Her iwi is Ngati Awa and she is from the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
Hayden Lawrence
Deputy Chair
Hayden is dairy farming just south of Eltham where he owns and operates a 420 cow farm with his wife Alecia and their three young children.
Before going dairy farming, 10 years ago Hayden completed a PhD in Precision Agriculture and undertook the development and rollout of the Rapid Pasture Meter, for which he holds the patent. He also worked as the Innovations manager for C-Dax Systems.
Hayden has a passion for agricultural research and loves finding the balance between the research process and the commercial realities of farming.
Rob Facer
Rob is English by birth, Australian by Citizenship, but very definitely a Kiwi at heart.
Living in NZ since 2006, Rob has significant experience across all facets of the primary production value and supply chains, both here and internationally, coupled with extensive exposure to the tertiary and further education sectors. He is currently the Chief Executive of a long-established Taranaki based diversified Agri services group, as well as being active in the local community, governance and not-for-profit sectors.
Rob holds an MBA from the University of New England, and is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors.
Jo Bishell
Jo, her husband Dion and their three children, live and farm in South Taranaki. They are 50:50 sharemilking 870 cows across two properties.
Jo has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Agriculture and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Farm Systems and management from Massey University.
Jo was a consulting officer for DairyNZ and the Taranaki Regional manager. With the growth of their business and the family, she moved into farm consultancy.
In 2017, Jo and Dion won the Taranaki Share Farmer of the Year. Since then she has been heavily involved in the management of the awards program in Taranaki until retiring in 2020.
Mark Laurence
Mark is the DairyNZ appointee to the DTT board. He feels extremely privileged to hold this position as the regional science and research done by the trust is second to none in New Zealand. The fact that Taranaki has 4 research farms with such diversity is brilliant and offered the trust a platform to do research that is very rare even with Government organisations let alone a volunteer based trust. Mark enjoys being able to work along side farmers who freely give their time and expertise for the betterment of the Taranaki dairy industry.
Daniel Butler
Dan was born and bred in Taranaki, with his family farming in Kapuni. He graduated from Victoria University with a degree in Criminology and Education and after working for the Department of Corrections for 5 years returned to Taranaki to take up a position with LIC. Dan held various roles within LIC over a 6 year period. In 2022 he opted for a career change and moved into Rural Real Estate.
Dan is very passionate about all things dairy and is excited about what the future holds for the industry. He believes Dairy Trust Taranaki will play a vital role through its research in providing direction for future sustainable and profitable farming practices within Taranaki and across the country.
Dan lives in New Plymouth with his wife and two sons and is also a Trustee for Taranaki Rural Support Trust.
Nicola McCarthy
Nicola comes from a farming background and after completing an Agricultural Science degree at Massey University, managed to secure a job with Fonterra.
Over the last 17 years Nic has worked for the Co-op and held roles in health and safety, compliance, project management and dairy operations. More recently she has taken on the role of Regional Head for Farm Source Taranaki.
Nic is passionate about all things Fonterra, the dairy industry and her people. She’s always up for a good yarn – stakeholder communications is a favourite part of her role.
Outside of work you can find Nic, Paul and her two boys not far from a fishing rod, white bait net or a lake boat!
Kevin Argyle
Kevin is a senior agribusiness executive and company director with more than 25 years’ experience across the New Zealand and Australian dairy sectors. He has a strong passion for agricultural research, development and innovation, with a particular focus on lifting farm system productivity, profitability and sustainability.
Kevin has held senior leadership roles with Dairy Australia, Meat & Livestock Australia, Fonterra, DairyNZ, AgResearch and Massey University, including General Manager R&D, Director Major Innovation and Chief Executive roles. He has led large-scale joint-venture research programmes and secured over $100 million in investment, delivering multi-billion-dollar value potential to dairy farmers through advances in genetics, forages, nutrition and farm systems.
He is a Chartered Accountant, a member of the Institute of Directors, and an active dairy farmer and director in the Manawatū. Kevin brings deep governance, financial and innovation expertise to his role as a Trustee of Dairy Trust Taranaki.